Tag Archives: 2

#1246: Blur – Song 2

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Going into this, I was really thinking, “Wouldn’t it be funny if I just typed ‘Woo-hoo’ for the post and nothing else?” A little part of me still wants to as I type this. But I reckon it would be a bit of a cop out if I did. I would have been two years of age when Blur’s ‘Song 2’ up and around as the second single from the band’s self-titled album from 1997. And as a result, I think I really missed how inescapable the song was during its heyday. But even when I first saw the video/heard the song in 2005 or something, it sounded like a tune I must have heard a hundred times before. It’s Blur’s most well-known song, even by people who don’t know who the band is, and to this day if you were to see the band live, ‘Song 2’ is a guaranteed play because I don’t think they’re allowed to leave the stage without performing it.

The story that people tend to agree upon with the song is that it was written to parody American grunge music, with the whole soft verse/loud chorus with the lyrics that make no sense thing going on. The real story is Damon Albarn originally had the track demoed in a slower, acoustic arrangement with the “woo-hoos” originally being wolf-whistles. Something quite similar to this, actually. Graham Coxon heard it, suggested to mess it up and make it nastier. And so, Albarn laid the vocal track in the control room while Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree rocked out in the live space. The placeholder lyrics Albarn originally ended up as the final thing. He had actual lyrics he wanted to lay down, but they didn’t seem right. The guide vocal track which was meant to be recorded over stuck too. And made as a joke to freak out the label representatives, the joke fell flat because the people at the label ended up loving it and backed its potential as an actual single.

I must have heard this tune over a few hundred times now, surely. And you know, it’s a repetitive, sure. It’s got the “woohoo” thing going on. The lyrics are a bunch of nonsense. It’s over before you even realize. But I swear, every time the band comes in on that first “woohoo” with the riff and the double-tracked bass, it’s an automatic screwed face on my part. I just can’t help it. This a great song, just in terms of the feel of it all. Sometimes you do want to shout melodically about the most random of things, and ‘Song 2’ is the prime example that allows you to do that without thinking too much about it. Sometimes I think it’d be nice for a lot of other Blur songs to have at least half of the popularity ‘Song 2’ does. They’ve got some nice songs to their name. But then I think, if it’s gonna be one, why not ‘Song 2’? What it doesn’t have in substance, it makes up for in feel and attitude. And that’s all right with me.

#1051: Radiohead – Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)

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A long, long time ago, wanna say 2009, I listened to parts 1 and 2 of Radiohead’s ‘Polyethylene’. The track itself is a B-side that was originally released on the ‘Paranoid Android’ single in 1997. But in 2009, it was made available again on the new “Collector’s Edition” of OK Computer. These editions, also made for Pablo Honey up to Hail to the Thief, were considered to be something of a cash-grab devised by the band’s former EMI label and have since been rubbished by the band and many fans too. I listened to the track that one time, so it was like virtually hearing the song for the first time when it was then released again on 20th OK Computer anniversary, OKNOTOK release that came around in 2017.

Like its A-side counterpart, ‘Polyethylene (Parts 1 and 2)’ is also formed by apparently taking two seemingly separate pieces of music and putting them together to make one whole thing. But in this case, ‘Polyethylene’ starts off as a quiet acoustic number before faking the listener out and turning into a energized and emphatic full-on band performance. For the first 40 seconds, Thom Yorke calms us with some sweet dulcet tones and a sole acoustic take. What he’s singing about here is debatable, the lyrics in this section aren’t too decipherable either. Nothing new when it comes to Yorke’s enunciation in certain songs. Yorke abruptly stops, and a descending electric guitar run opens up the second part of the track with the rest of the band falling in not too long after. That guitar line acts as the main riff for the remainder of the song, and after each repetition of it comes the huge impact of the electric guitars and crash cymbals coming in together. A huge release of energy every time.

Here, Yorke’s vocals are a lot more clearer, though the lyrics read off like a list of items and slogans that he may have observed and taken a note of, rather than displaying a narrative or having a coherent theme throughout. That doesn’t matter all that much though, ’cause there’s a ton of feeling in the delivery. Also, during the first few measures of the verses, Yorke is singing and playing the guitar in 3/4 while the drums continue in 4/4 to have this polyrhythmic effect going on. I want to believe that’s a nod to the Beatles’ ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’ which also utilises the same feature for a moment or two. It’s known that that song was an influence on ‘Paranoid Android’, so why not this one too? I’ve come to really like ‘Polyethylene’ over the years, probably more than songs that made it onto their respective albums. Why it didn’t make it onto OK Computer, only the band will know, but with its B-side status the track lies low in the shadows, which makes it all the more special for those who go on to discover it.

#965: Mac DeMarco – Ode to Viceroy

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Honestly, when it comes to ‘…Viceroy’, I’m not too sure I can pinpoint the exact moment when it clicked with me. I can say for sure that I would have heard it the first time when going through Mac DeMarco’s 2 for the first time in 2014, not too long after Salad Days had dropped and was instantly one of my favourite albums of recent times. I do recall wondering how the word ‘Viceroy’ was pronounced before the track started. Being from the UK, I don’t think I’d ever seen/heard that word in my life. Once DeMarco sings the word, it’s actually very obvious. I also remember ‘…Viceroy’ being a bit of a slow burner for me. The track’s the longest tune on the album, but it finishes off just under 4 minutes, which is a pretty standard song length. But still, it took a few listens for it to sink in. But once it did, well, just couldn’t get enough of it. Whoo, it’s a jam.

This jam is exactly what it says in the title. It’s a dedication to Viceroy cigarettes, one that came about after DeMarco started trying another brand of cigarettes, realized they were terrible and fully appreciated how great his beloved Viceroys were. There was a period in the mid-10s where DeMarco was the poster boy of indie rock, and his dedicated followers really wanted to be like him, wearing similar attire to the guy and smoking Viceroys just to be that closer to him. He however has made it clear that this is not a track that is meant to endorse smoking, but rather one that’s meant to put emphasis on his terrible smoking addiction. I think that unsettling outro with those heartbeat-like pulses that go on and on while a deep-pitched DeMarco starts choking puts a highlight on that too. But the glorious minutes are formed by a glorious song, one that only consists of two verses and two choruses, but the melodies are so memorable and the mood is so enticing. Really, it’s no wonder that fans wanted to smoke after hearing it. It’s too good not to smoke to.

What I’ve come to appreciate more and more is the contrast between those reverb-soaked guitars and DeMarco’s drier vocal that sits over the top of them. The juxtaposition is one that works too well. When you hear it, you come to realise DeMarco doesn’t really sing that much, and it’s the guitar that’s doing a lot of the melodic work. A lot of string bends and fills going on in those verses. And then those culminate in the call and response choruses with DeMarco singing and the guitar soloing in response. Man, it’s just good structure. And you can sing along to every part. This song’s great. Centerpiece of 2. Admittedly, I think Salad Days is slightly better. Just a bit more consistent. But 2 has very high highs, and ‘Ode to Viceroy’ is right up there. This’ll be the last track from that album I write about. If I had started just a bit later, ‘Cooking Up Something Good’ and ‘Dreamin” would have had their own posts on here. Wasn’t meant to be, but I’d suggest you check those out too.

#900: Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)

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As a casual Arcade Fire fan and something of a follower of reception to indie albums, I think I’ve picked up the general feelings about the four “Neighborhood” songs that are on the group’s Funeral album. A record that I think I read changed the shape of indie upon its arrival in 2004. ‘#4 (7 Kettles)‘ is the one no one talks about that much. Many people may like it, but it’s not seen as the best. ‘#1 (Tunnels)‘ and ‘#3 (Power Out)‘ are the classics, with the former generally regarded as the better of the two. So that leaves ‘#2 (Laïka)’ as something of the middle child. The dark horse. It’s appreciated, but probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves. In my case, it’s my personal favourite out of all four.

The track tells a story of Alexander, the oldest brother in a family who leaves home, goes out into the world and purposefully erases his memories of his loved ones who still wish him the best out of that unconditional love that comes with being a family. From the perspective of the younger sibling who acts as the narrative voice compares their brother’s disappearance to that of Laika, the dog that was sent into space by the Russians and died while own its own great adventure. It carries on the themes of family and the idea of ‘the neighborhood’ introduced in ‘Tunnels’, but takes a darker turn from that by touching upon abandonment too.

There are just a lot of musical moments that happen here that draw me to it more compared to the other three ‘Neighborhoods’. Coming straight after ‘Tunnels’ which ends on a beautiful, somewhat strident note, ‘Laïka’ sets the tone with an omninous tom-tom driven drum pattern that’s then joined by jangly guitars, I want to say a xylophone (it’s one of those percussive instruments), and that short melody on the accordion that’s pretty much the anchor of the whole song. A double-tracked Win Butler sounds like he’s singing through a megaphone, like he’s some big announcer telling this story to us. The violins in the choruses add this tense urgency and add to the chaos when the vocals become more intense in the “Older brother, bit by a vampire” verse and culminate in a yelling delivery from Régine Chassagne. Overall, it’s one of those tracks where you can pick out new things each time you listen to it. Like those whistles during the ‘police disco lights’ section. What are those all about? Didn’t need to be there, yet I can’t imagine the song without ’em. A non-‘Neighborhood’ track follows this one on the album, and probably for good reason. Those first two really take it out of you.

#889: Mac DeMarco – My Kind of Woman

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Upon hearing Salad Days and loving it pretty much instantly when it was first released in March/April 2014, my next objective was to find more music of Mac DeMarco. Luckily 2 had been existing as his first proper album for two years by that point, so I got straight to listening. To this day I’ve held the opinion that 2 isn’t as great as Salad Days. I don’t think it’s as consistent. But it’s highlights are some of DeMarco’s best songs. ‘Cooking Up Something Good’ and ‘Dreamin” are tracks I hold dear to my soul. And then there’s ‘My Kind of Woman’ which admittedly I wasn’t really into those first few times, but with more listens I had to welcome it with open arms.

Like all of his other songs, DeMarco sings with that easygoing tone that so many listeners love ‘im for. So welcoming in its delivery with a relaxing melody, and when that first “Oh, baby” comes in, I mean, you just gotta carry on listening to see how it all unfolds. What happens is a song detailing a person who’s too overcome by how much they like a woman and how she actually reciprocates those feelings and sticks around. It’s a song about this unbelievable wonder when a relationship seems too good to be true. And it’s all provided in two verses and two choruses, something that’s another threaded throughout a lot of Mac’s songs. He hardly ever writes a bridge, but when he writes music like this he doesn’t really have to.

What other things could I talk about… I guess, apart from those guitars with that jangling tone that was a signature of 2/Salad Days era Mac, that organ/keyboard on the left that mimics the lead guitar on the right is quite cool. There’s something that sounds a bit off about it. Like it’s sort of detuning but still managing to stay in key. Kinda gives the track a sort of unsettling feel. Don’t ask me what’s going on in that video though; your guess is as good as mine.